


Puzzle Pieces (RK- 800 Connor x Reader)

by Myvanway



Series: Pretty Androids [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Android friend is looking for his soulmate too, Android uprising (Detroit: Become Human), Battle for Detroit (Detroit: Become Human), Best Buddies, Connor doesn't appear in the third chapter, Connor won't appear in the prolog, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Deviants (Detroit: Become Human), F/F, F/M, Female Reader, Friendship, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, I am so sorry, I have the story planned out, I really hope that I can include the other protagonists, I try to keep reader gender neutral, Jericho - Freeform, Jericho Gets Attacked (Detroit: Become Human), Kinda, M/M, Markus Is A Badass, Multi, Multiple chapters, Platonic Friendship with OC, Platonic Love, Platonic Relationship, Power of Friendship, Power of Love, Reader is best friends with an Android, Roadtrip, Romantic Soulmates, Romantic love, Searching for Jericho (Detroit: Become Human), Searching for Soulmate, Searching for love, Slight swearing, Slow Burn, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Spoilers, but Markus does, characters are updated as I go, first Detroit: Become Human fanfic, first bigger fanfic in english, follows the line of the game, gender neutral reader, i am no native speaker, kinda roadtrip, kinda slow burn, like one time shit, maybe melodramatic, please bear with me, reader doesn't care about laws, reader is a hopeless dreamer, spoilers for the game, tries to be as close to the story of the game as possible
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-08-22 10:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16596023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myvanway/pseuds/Myvanway
Summary: Everyone has a soulmate!At least that’s, what everyone had always said, that’s what everyone’s still saying, the only difference for now is that you don’t believe it anymore...*This is your story; where everyone has their soulmate's name written in red on their wrist in their soulmate's handwriting, except you. You have just bare skin where a name should be. There must be obviously something wrong with you, that makes you so undeserving of love, you think for a very long time and when a name appears it is not as you expected it to be. It is blue and written in a computer fond and makes you questioning everything you ever wanted about soulmates.As the temperatures drop in fall 2038, the Androids rise and while you help your best Android friend to find his place among his people you may also find someone you did not expect to meet in the midst of ice, snow and a revolution.*!This is as much as a Human/ Android friendship (kinda road- trip) story, as it is a Soulmate- AU with our precious boy Connor!!General spoiler warning for the whole story!!Can also be found on tumblr on my blog "lady-spacy"![Summary may change...]





	1. Prolog

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Dear!  
> I am so glad you came along to have a look at my story. I hope I can make you stay.  
> Welcome to my first English fanfiction, I have written Oneshots before but never a story with a few chapters, so I am really excited that I can share it now with you.  
> Please note, that I am no English native speaker and I am asking you to forgive any possible mistakes. I did my best to proof- read it but it is always possible for a few mistakes to slip through.  
> I hope you enjoy your stay and have fun reading!  
> Lots of love and take care, Gorgeous,
> 
> Your Myvanway

Everyone has a soulmate!

At least that’s, what everyone had always said, that’s what everyone’s still saying, the only difference for now is that you don’t believe it anymore.

Because you don’t have a soulmate, there is no name written on your wrist, no name written in a bright red over your pulse. There is just skin, nothing more, nothing less.

There was once a time where you had believed in a soulmate, you had truly believed that you were just like everyone else; until the day you realized there was just no name on your wrist.

Your six- year old self had used mirrors back then to find a name, maybe it was just somewhere else on your body, but no, you haven’t found anything. Crying and utterly confused and scared you run to your mother on that fateful day, begging her to look for a soulmate’s name on your body. It had just to be somewhere! This must be just one awful big mistake!

But even your mother couldn’t find a name.

This was the first time you remember that you broke down crying and cursing the whole universe, wondering what it was that made you so unlovable, so undeserving of a partner that was a part of you, who lived in your heart just like you would live in theirs? What had you done that you were dismissed this gift, that everyone should have, that everyone around you seemed to have?

It was so unfair that, until this day, you were so convinced, that there was someone out there for you, someone for who you would be the missing puzzle piece of their soul, as the people always have said.

“Humans are not made for being alone. Each and everyone of us has someone out there who completes the puzzle that we are, we just need to find each other and then it’s true bliss…”, usually this speech was accompanied with a stupid grin towards their soulmate or a longing look towards the sky.

But as time passed your convictions about your soulmate shuffled into a black gaping void of “There is everything wrong with me that I don’t have a soulmate!”. And with even more time this idea settled into your soul and you truly believed it.

 

Of course you hoped, you prayed, for a miracle to happen and for a name to appear on your wrist, to wake some day up and to find a name, the proof that you are not doomed to never experiencing true love but this miracle never came.

 

Since the day you were seven years old, a good year after you realized the missing name on your wrist, and having a year filled with unattained hopes for a miracle, you started to wear long sleeves whenever you left the house, not minding the weather, no one, absolutely no one, should see that you didn’t had a soulmate! Because then, everybody would just know that there is something wrong with you…

When people around you, often your friends and acquaintances, were talking about the names on their wrists and how they imagine them to be or who they hope they are, you were either answering very harshly, sometimes even mean, or tried to change the subject, when you were asked about yours.

 

It was in your first year of high school; during a lunch break you sat together with people you called friends or ‘when we have to go to school we can do it together’ and a girl named Lydia bend over the table and whispered with sparkling eyes and a smug smile to you and the three other girls that were with you at the table: “I think I know now that Garrett Cruz is my soulmate! I saw his arm the other day when he threw a ball during training and I am pretty sure that I saw a L, a Y and a D!”

Her face was full of satisfaction and confidence and while the other girls showered her with screeched “OMGs” and “This is amazing!s” You fought the urge to roll your eyes.

Everyone knew that Garrett was the current crush of Lydia and she didn’t seem to have really seen anything on his arm, especially not her name. She probably just saw a shadow of what she wished would be there. And the other problem was that on her wrist were written in the bright red letters with her soulmate’s handwriting the name Sascha. A very feminine handwriting to be precise.

“But what about Sascha?”, you asked slyly, not banning a little evil smile.

“What is about him?”, she snapped back.

“Well”, you answered and put your chest out and shoulders back, gaining confidence, “firstly, you don’t know if he’s not a she and secondly, whatever they are, they are your soulmate. Not Garrett.”

You finished your statement with a small shrug and a too sweet smile.

Lydia stared at you and gasped, she opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to say something but whatever she wanted to express, it didn’t found it’s way out.

“How do you know”, she finally managed to say, “that this Sascha is my soulmate. Maybe I’m their’s but they’re not mine. Because I want Garrett. And he has my name on his arm!”

You sat there, baffled. Did she really believe that? Did she really wanted to throw away what she was granted when her puzzle piece’s name were written on her wrist, when she decided to ignore that and chase after only a temporally and also unimportant crush?

 

But what if she was right, what if there weren’t puzzle pieces that always fit. What if there are puzzle pieces that don’t belong to each other? Even though the names are there? Or just kinda fit but no one ever realizes that they should not be next to each other and never realizing that this choice of partner was wrong. What if the universe has made a mistake?

Or just doesn’t care?

Since you were standing on the outside, looking into the world but never being able to be a part of it, it made you painfully aware of everything that could be wrong about that system...

 

Not always was it so easy for you to not talk about the lack of letters on your wrist, when you sat down during sleepovers on the beds, with warm, dimmed lights around you and soft sleep wear and these 3 AM conversations. Usually these conversations would eventually bring up the topic of soulmates and the connected dreams and stories, like how do the people imagine the first meeting or the first kiss or what they think their soulmate is like based on their names and handwriting. Or exchanging the actual stories of how they first met, as you grew older and more and more of your peers came across and found their soulmates.

 As much as you enjoyed sleepovers, you always feared for this topic to come up. You would then usually grab a pillow, pull down the sleeve of your sleep shirt, hug the pillow tight and tried to become invisible. It sometimes worked, silence can be a mighty ally if you want to disappear, but sometimes people still asked. For responding, you usually barked answers about how soulmates are always the most important thing in life, when they are other topics like climate change that should be a priority and how annoyed you were by ‘soulmates here and soulmates there’. The people then usually looked shocked, often hurt, a few laughed but typically you distracted them enough to release you from the question. Either turning back to their prior conversation or you were able to give another input for a new topic.

 

Even though you had accepted that you were just wrong and unlovable a long time ago there was always this feeling of betrayal lingering inside you that you didn’t had a soulmate, that you hid that fact from the majority of people. Just your parents, your little sibling and later two of your best friends knew.

 

“By the way, why do you make such a secret of your soulmate? We are always the ones to talk about ours. Why do you never talk about yours? ”, a friend, a really good and caring friend, asked you with a warm smile at such a sleepover occasion, after she had talked about how she was sure that she had met her soulmate and was now thinking about her next steps, asking for your advice.

You knew very well, that she asked you about your soulmate, to give you room to speak, to make you feel included, that you should not be the one to always listen, she was offering you to talk as well, to spill your heart out. Absent minded did you rub your wrist, as she spoke, the wrist were a name should be, the wrist, where was only skin. Looking around the room, you looked into two of your best friends faces, people that you trusted, that you decided to tell finally the truth.

You looked at your friends, kind and wonderful people, took a deep breath, closed your eyes for a moment and when you opened them again you quickly said, eyes towards your sleeve: “I don’t have a soulmate!” You pushed the fabric of your shirt up to reveal your bare wrist.

Your friends stared at you in disbelief, both crying out a horrified “WHAT?”

You just looked at them sadly with tired eyes, eyes that were heavy from the weight you’ve been carrying your whole life.

After their surprise, their scepticism and a look at your wrist and your encouragement that you really have looked everywhere, they believed you. There was pity in their faces, but on the same time they told you what an amazing human being you were, they told you about your bright, honest smile, how you always lend an ear, how you cared for the people around you, how you would never let someone down that you cared for and what masterpieces you could create out of flowers.

It made you smile carefully and for the first time in your life, you were nearly okay with having no soulmate, when you had people around who cared for you nonetheless. And these people even cared for you because they wanted to, they weren't bond by a name written on your bodies, tied and forced to be together, forced to _care_.

'Yes', you thought by yourself, 'maybe, just maybe this isn't the end of the world. Maybe there is another way.'

 

In the following time your mind calmed, you decided that you would fall in love with yourself, the only person at this moment, that you could truly love without having to share with somebody else. And so you did. Beginning with wearing short sleeves, according to the weather, turning to skin care routines and Quote collecting from an old Internet page called tumblr, to working hard in school for learning about all the things you were truly interested in that you would learn to smile about life itself someday and not curse life for not having a soulmate.

With each day of growing self acceptance it got easier for you to see beauty and grace in life and the times of dark clouded thoughts and a heavy, dull heart got fewer, until they would nearly completely disappear, just leaving a lingering shadow of questions behind. The question and the longing to experience a wild, unconditional, unquestionable and true love, a desire you could not ban from your heart completely. It became a part of you just like the blossoming joy for life and the soft and careful peace you made with you just being different.

 

It was summer 2038, when everything you knew, everything you tried to give order and structure to, crumbled at just the sight of blue letters, appearing out of nowhere on your wrist.

You were on the train, after a quite ordinary day at work, letting your legs stretch out, closing your eyes and breathing in the golden summer evening, relaxing to your favourite music, when a sharp prickling pain on your wrist let you nearly jump in your seat and made you inhale air sharply.

As fast as the pain came, as fast it faded, and as you inspected your wrist, to find the reason for the pain, you just stared at it, paralyzed, with an open mouth and a thousand and not one thought at once in your head. After the initial shock you couldn't help but laugh out loud, in disbelief and utter surprised joy, right there in the crowded train, you had a soulmate! _You had a soulmate!_

_Connor..._

_Connor._

_Connor!_

You had a real soulmate and his name is Connor!

People probably stared at you, but you didn't noticed it, and also didn't care, you were hypnotized by the blue name written in a clear, clean fond that didn't seem like a handwriting. Thinking about the letters, you found your soul mark very odd, and even odder with each passing moment.

The joy about your soul mark slowly faded and left you with very uncomfortable questions in your heart. Weren't soul marks supposed to be red and written in the individual handwriting of the soulmate? And this one looked like it came straight out of a computer. And did not soul marks appeared the day the soulmate was born on their partners wrists? Did your soulmate, _Connor_ , was just born this very moment? Was this even legal? And were you supposed to wait for Connor to grow up until you could be in a relationship? Was this even acceptable?

 And why was your mark _blue_?

The odd color nearly bothered you the most, it felt weird, just not right...

Blue was such a technical color, cool and clean, not something you associated with a hot burning love, with passion and devotion. Blue was chilly, it was structure and security, it was metal, durable and strong but not bendable, not _alive_ at all.

You couldn't put it into words, but there was something about your whole mark that made you feel out of place again; a calm blue instead of burning red, a computer fond as handwriting, you never ever heard of someone with a mark like yours. Once again, you weren't like the rest of the world.

And a part of you hated it, another part of you just gave in to your fate of just being you and being you meaning to be different, and being proud about that, and yet another part of you wanted a soulmate so badly, that it still couldn't believe that a name appeared.

'A name is a name', you thought a few stops before yours, 'and that's all I ever wanted!'

 

Unbeknownst to you, around a hour away from you in Detroit, in a laboratory at the CyberLife headquarter, a new Android prototype, the first Android Detective in the history of Androids, was firstly activated.

"State your ID!"

"RK800 #313 248 317 - 51"

"Your name is Connor."

"My name is Connor."

 

Little did he know that there was a irregularity on his Android body, his true body, right at his wrist, that CyberLife was not able to get rid of.

Whatever they tried, and they tried everything, it did not work. A new material, a new alloy for the Android bodies, a new mould for casting the arms, a new casting and moulding procedure were created, they even rebuild the whole machine, responsible for the body parts but all of this effort did not pay off. The perfect, smooth surface had an unevenness, not to be seen with a human's eyes but it was prominent as light of day for the advanced technology of CyberLife. So they decided to not talk about it, to maintain silence, since it did not affected the Androids in any way. Nobody knew that this unevenness existed, no one outside of CyberLife, that not on one, not on a few, but on all Androids they ever made. CyberLife's scientists wondered and searched about the nature of this unevenness but they did not find any answers. It was a miracle they said, a little wonder that is the price for the most advanced technology ever created by mankind. " _As long as it does no harm"_ , they said, "we don't need to explain everything."

Even Elijah Kamski said something about the "scratch" as the CyberLife members referred to the phenomenon.

"We created artificial life, maybe we, Androids and humans, are more alike than we think. They were made in our image, at least", with that he smiled his sly, mysterious smirk and rubbed his right arm, right over where his soulmate's name probably stood.


	2. Uneven Number

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greetings and welcome to the next chapter. I am overwhelmed by your support and feedback, I could have only hoped for such positive responds when I uploaded the story. And you made these hopes come true. Thank you, each and everyone of you so very much. You are the definitely the best readers I could have. Thank you for being a part of the Detroit fandom. <3 Enjoy this chapter now and stay awesome! Lots of love, Myvanway
> 
> P.S. Merry Christmas for everyone who celebrates! And a happy, blessed new year. I hope you have dreams that come true in 2019!

** Uneven Number- Chapter 2 **

__

_ A little outside of Detroit, Michigan, May 2037 _

 

„What does it feel like to have a soulmate?”

“What?”, you asked bewildered, looking up from the flowers you were binding into a bouquet at the moment, looking right over to Malcolm, your Android colleague who worked as a gardener with you at a founder time mansion with a big park around it.

You had heard him very well when he asked, but you needed time to think, to find an answer to his question.  

What should you tell him? The idea of lying to him wasn’t very appealing to you, since you enjoyed working with him. Being glad about kind company, when your boss was nearly never around and you needed to have someone to keep you companionship while you worked in the small shop, where visitors could by flower arrangements and little souvenirs from the mansion.

Malcolm was a WR-600 model Android who was already there before you came into the business, first he was a regular gardener with the task to keep the park in a good shape but later he got to help you out in the shop, when your boss was just not available again.

And you loved working with him, a lot more than with your boss actually.

You saw his devotion to the park with all of the plants and other lifeforms that Malcolm took affectionately care of. He knew every corner of the garden, knew exactly what each tree and bush and flowerbed needed to be healthy and strong. And he also knew about in which tree which squirrels lived and where birds would build their nests in spring and he did everything to protect them.  

That was the first secret he told you, a little while after he and you started to work alongside and developed something like a bond to each other. Many more secrets followed and you were fascinated to learn about his way to think and couldn’t get enough of discovering his way to see the world. Because you found so much of you in him. The love for the little things, little lifeforms, small and worthy of living. He saw the beauty of the world just like you did, in flowers and nature, in the wonders of the small world.  

Thinking of your friendship and how you two were always honest and sincere with each other, you decided that you would tell him the truth.

„I don’t know”, you answered with a shrug, „because I don’t have a soulmate.“

You watched him closely, wondering if you would see some kind of reaction to your statement in his face.

Malcolm cocked his head to the side, something he always did, when he was thinking and his LED went yellow for a brief second until it changed back to blue where it swirled continuously around.

“As far as I was informed have all humans marks on their bodies that show their soulmate’s name. How can you have no soulmate?” he asked as a matter of fact and making you feel like you just did the easiest of math exercises wrong.

You shrugged and grimaced towards him. “Trust me, if I would know the answer to that I would get much more sleep at night.”

Malcolm cocked his head again, while his LED had not stopped swirling blue yet.

“Would you like to have a soulmate?”, he asked eventually and there it was, this knot in your very soul, that knot of awfulness and sorrow, the knot that would be silent a lot of days but that was always there, sometimes more prominent, sometimes more restrained. But as little as Malcolm’s harmless question was necessary to make it swell and to flood all of your soul and heart with this drowning helplessness and darkness.

“Yes!”, you answered quickly but corrected yourself fast, “No! Yes! I don’t know.”

Your shoulders dropped and you began fizzling with leaves that you had cut off of a flower’s stem.

“When I was younger”, you began to explain, “would I have given everything to have a soulmate. To have a mark, that would appear someday, out of the blue on my wrist. But as I grew older and the miracle I hoped for, did not happen, I lost hope. I began to question the system, the ‘ infallible  system’, that I grew up with, a system that left me alone and confused. Sometimes I thought, that I made the numbers of people on this planet uneven when I was born, so I was left out when they were paired together. Silly, I know. And illogical but I can’t help it. That is how I sometimes try to explain my misery to myself. I am still trying to solve this riddle. But I learned to find something for me, instead of a dream of a soulmate, at least that was my intend, it took a lot of work and tears and the will to not give up and I actually did a lot of things, I learned and grew so much personally but to be honest, I don’t feel complete. Whatever I do it is not enough. There is this emptiness inside me that I can only numb, that I can never truly fill or get rid of. I feel betrayed and alone, because I am the ‘uneven number’ in the system. I have caring and good hearted friends, tho , I have you. I have loving parents and a little sibling, I am not alone and still, still, I want to fill this gaping void in me. But I can’t, because this is just a dream of a stupid little human, a dream I will never be free of.”  

Your voice got louder and pathetically desperate when you told your story and at the end were you clutching the leaves on the counter before you and mashed them in your fists. The tears from years of anger and hope stinged in your eyes and you blinked frantically to not start crying right now and there. You were so angry, angry with the world, the universe and how you just could not be free of the longing for someone at your side that would be there for forever.  

But you were especially angry with yourself, disappointed by your emotions that you were just not able to regulate, to control. With a bitter face, your lips pulled to a thin line, you wiped the mashed leaves from your hand and sighed. Could you ever live happily or would you be always in a constant of hope and despair?

„I am sorry“, Malcolm said quietly and helped you to clean up the counter, „I did not mean to disturb you. Androids do not have soulmates, too. But most Androids do not have real human friends as well, but I do. I have you. I may not be able to offer you a soulmate but I can offer you my friendship once more.“  

And for a brief second did his LED flashed yellow with a hint of sudden red and the look on Malcolm‘s face was highly disturbed by something that must went on in his mind and you watched him with worry.  

„Are you alright?“, you asked and he nodded, „Yes, everything works in perfect order. Thank you for your concern.“  

You knitted your brows together by that answer, this was not his usual way to speak but you felt like you shouldn’t push him. So you let it be for the moment.  

__

_ Present Day, August 2038 _

 

“Malcolm!”, you shouted excitedly, when you entered the shop the next day after your soulmate’s name, had appeared on your wrist.

‘ _ Connor _ ’ _,_ __ you reminded yourself with a small, happily silly smile, ‘my soulmate’s name is Connor!’

„Are you there? I have something to tell you!”

You made your way towards the counter to put your bag aside, when you heard rustling in the back room of the shop, smiling over your whole face, expecting to see Malcolm, you turned around, ready to tell him the good news, heart beating in gleeful anticipation…

“Good morning, Y/N”, the unexpected appearance of your boss greeted you and made your smile freeze. What was she doing here? You didn’t think you would see her today, especially not on that special day.

“Oh. Good morning, Mrs. Stuart!”, you greeted back in a hopefully cheery and completely not disappointed manner, that she wasn’t your friend, whom you had expected to see and smiled politely.

“What put you in such a good mood this morning that you wanted to tell it to _ our  _ _Android_ ?”  

She emphasized on the last words, declaring that Malcolm was just a luxurious tool for gardening, that she owned, that he was not a person. It made you sick, but you tried to keep a neutral face, this was not the place for a discussion about the status of Androids.

“I- I saw that-“, you stressed on the last word for a moment, thinking about something else to tell her, ”I saw that the rose buds, that wouldn’t bloom, finally opened. Malcolm was worried about them, that they wouldn’t blossom this summer at all…”

You shrugged a little and Mrs. Stuart nodded.

“Well then, you can tell that to the Android, when you see it again. Do not go looking for it, you have to prepare the flower arrangement order for Major Jefferson’s daughter’s wedding. They already asked, when they will receive the order. The reception is tomorrow evening. Oh, and be very careful. No sloppiness or laziness. And while you prepare the arrangements, I will work in the office to get some paper work done. Please do not interrupt me, if it is not completely urgent!”

“Got it!”, you answered with a serious face and a small nod.

You watched as Mrs. Stuart went to the small office space in the back room and as soon as she had closed the door behind her, you turned on the music box in the shop, taking the small pleasure of listening to your favorite show tunes while working.

The order for the Jeffersons took indeed a lot of time and work, since you had to put extra effort in the arrangements, if anything was not on the spot perfect, you would risk the eternal rage of Mrs. Stuart who thought a lot about it being her shop that was chosen for the Major’s daughter’s wedding. For her, it equaled being a part of the Major’s family. Which was obviously not true at all, but Mrs. Stuart was an, well, let’s say, ambitious person.

 

After hours of continuous work, you took a small break, sitting outside the shop on the bench, enjoying the warm, golden lights of a summer afternoon, while munching on your lunch meal that you brought with you. You spotted Malcolm in the distance. He was working on a rose hedge and when he moved did the reflections of his electric blue band on his arm and mesmerizing triangle on his back blind you. You shielded your eyes with one hand, while keeping your gaze on him. His honey colored hair seemed to burn in all colors of a fire in the light of the slowly setting sun, when he moved his head, and created a hypnotizing contrast to the characteristic cool blue and green colors, he was usually surrounded by. The golden air made him look so _ different _ , you thought. The warm highlights on his hair, the tip of his nose and high cheekbones…

You knew his face by heart, it was kindness and friendship to you, but usually it was pale and cool toned. You couldn’t see his eyes, since he worked with his back to you, but you knew, that, if he would turn around, they would be of a golden tinted blue, not the clear icy blue they usually are. 

To see Malcolm bathed in warm light was strange, he seemed to have turned into something else, a creature from a fairytale, he wasn’t the Malcolm anymore that you cherished so dearly, the trustworthy, always logical, always collected and durable Malcolm, your friend. He was not radiating the blue calmness anymore, that always felt like an anchor…

_ Blue! _

The realization hit you like a brick, and you completely stopped in your movements, a spoonful of lunch forgotten halfway to your mouth, trying desperately to get a grasp on that new thought, could it be?

Blue was the color of Androids, it was everywhere around them, on their clothing, on their temples, it was even in the logo of _ CyberLife _ _ , _ __ the company that created them.

You slowly put the spoon back into your food container and moved your now free hand around to stare at your wrist. There it was, still bright as day, blue and in a clear, sans serif computer font, _ Connor _ .Connor, your soulmate, Connor, the Android?

Softly, carefully, you stroked over the letters with your thumb from the other hand and you found yourself smiling lightly, lost in thoughts but content with the new situation, content because everything made sense now.

You had never heard of people having Android soulmates, you hadn’t even heard of a blue soulmark on somebody before but otherwise, you had kept quiet about that as well. For such a long time you had hid your bare wrist before the world and now you wondered who else did that?

You were sure that you couldn’t be the only one with no or a blue soulmark and maybe you could find someone just like you. But it was a matter for another day, now you faced a far bigger issue- how should you find Connor? And where? Who was he? What does he do?

‘How do people find their soulmate anyways?’, you wondered and made a mental note to ask friends and family, who already encountered their soulmates how this had happened.

By now, you were smiling brightly at your wrist, something inside you tingled and felt like certainty, like upcoming adventure and dreams to come true. It was a good feeling. It was new and exciting and you liked it very much.

And when you looked up again, still a smile on your face you saw, that Malcolm had turned around and you waved at him, greeting him, he hesitated for a moment, but then he waved slightly back at you. You couldn’t see it against the light of the setting sun, but his LED had turned red at the moment he decided to lift his hand and greet you back.

He gesticulated towards the hedge and a near flower bed, signalizing that he had work to do there and you nodded. Talking with him, telling him what happened would need to wait. You waved him goodbye, and he waved back, no hesitation this time, put the lid over your food container and made your way back into the shop again but not without taking a deep breath, inhaling the sweet late summer air, that felt even softer for you now.

Dusk was already falling when you could finally head home with sore fingers and tired feet from binding and preparing all of the flowers for the Jefferson wedding. You did not had the chance to speak with Malcolm, Mrs. Stuart had already put him in the Android parking lot for the night, when you were done and you had sighed. It was so wrong seeing your friend put aside, with lifeless eyes and unmoving body, it was humiliating and no one deserved such treatment in your eyes.

When you informed Mrs. Stuart that you were done for the day and would go home, she had led her gaze wander over your arrangements with an approving look and smiled slightly at you.

“Good job, Y/N!”, she said with a nod, “I am satisfied with your work today.”

“Thank you very much, ma’am.”

“Have a good evening, Y/N.”

“You, too”, you answered, “Good night!”

“Hello! I’m home!”, you shouted, as you stepped inside your house, putting shoes and bag aside and looking around to where your family could be. You saw flickering lights in the living room and you heard gun shots. That attracted your attention and you peeked inside, your parents were there, both watching the news on TV with serious, concentrated faces and you furrowed your brows. What was happening?

None of them had greeted you, there must be something awfully bad happening.

“I’m home…”, you stated in a matter of fact way and finally your parents turned around.

“Hey, there, love. There is dinner in the kitchen for you, if you want.”

“Thanks a lot. What’s going on?”, you asked curiously with an interested gaze towards the TV.

“There was a kidnapping in Detroit, it appears to be the house keeping Android of a family took their little girl hostage…”, your father explained hurriedly and you slowly sat down on the sofa, not willing to turn away, you were too curious and there was also worry building up in your stomach.

“Out of trustworthy sources we know that _ CyberLife _ __ itself sent an Android as a negotiator in the crisis. Let’s just hope it can do more than the armed forces. As far as we know has it already arrived. I will inform you as soon as we know more. My name is Michael for Channel 16 and we are sending live from downtown Detroit…

Oh, it seems like we are getting the helicopter pictures before it was asked to make a way for the SWAT helicopter…

Look at that. Is that the hostage with the family’s Android at the edge of the roof? It seems to be true then, the captor is the PL-600 Android of the Phillips family.

We don’t have any more footage and we rely soley on our police sources and contacts to tell us more about what is happening…”

An Android taking a little girl hostage? Your heart raced, this couldn’t be. Androids are gentle, caring people. That is how you encountered them, what made that Android do that? What happened to him?

Could this be Connor? 

By this point of thought did your heart beat in a unpleasantly fast pace and you digged your fingernails deep into your clenched fist. This could be him. Or this wasn’t him. You had nothing that could proof it, either way.

You turned back to the TV, where the reporter tried to find out what was happening and stared with a worried face towards the building roof. Far back in the distance could you see the helicopter that flew over the roof in tight circles turn away. What was going on? You were worried, worried for the girl’s safety, worried for the Android that must had something terrible happen to him and you were worried because the stories of Androids acting crazy and even hurting people could be heard quite frequently and you wondered what was happening with, or maybe to, them. There must have been something gone terribly wrong. Or something terrible happened to them, either way, it wasn’t good.

“Dear audience!”, the News Reporter gasped suddenly, pressing two fingers to his headset and listened closely, “The hostage was saved. She is alive and is being taken care of by professional counselors and will soon be reunited with her mother. The hostage taker, the family’s Android, was destroyed and the negotiator is sent back to _ CyberLife. _

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your thoughts and prayers, we are grateful for the successful outcome of the crisis, thanks to the Detroit Police and _ CyberLife.  _ We are mourning the loss of Officer Antony Deckart of the Detroit Police Department and Mr. John Phillips…”

“Sound mute!”, did your father instruct to the TV and you only saw the pictures on the screen, police cars and ambulances, holding back the press and curious bystanders, waiting for the victims to arrive.

“What a tragedy…”, your mother sighed and rubbed her eyes.

“I wonder how something like this can happen. Maybe it’s good that we don’t have an Android”, she added and your father nodded, while you rubbed your wrist with a heavy weight on your soul.

This was not the first story you heard about an Android turning against their humans, an Android going crazy, and you somehow doubted that it was the last one. And now, with your newly awoken concern for Connor, someone you didn’t even know, could this have been the Android from the roof, you were actually very worried about what the future would bring.

It was said that one could feel if their soulmate died, a pain so deep, that it could tear a rift into one’s soul that would never heal again. And you were sure that you would have recognized the feeling of your soul ripped apart, if the Android on the roof could have been your Connor. 

Gently, you caressed Connor’s name on your wrist and made a decision.

‚I am going to find you, Connor. I am going to find you and take you in my arms! We will be together someday…’ 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there again!  
> Thank you for sticking with me through the whole chapter and I hope you had a good time reading it.  
> Sorry for not meeting our precious boi in this one, I promise you that it will change. Connor will get screen time! Stay tuned.   
> Btw, any opinions on Malcolm?   
> The story is already sketched out in my head and I hope you will get as soon as possible the next chapter.


	3. The last Butterfly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo!  
> It's good to see you here again.  
> Long time, no see, happy new year btw! (I posted the last chapter in December so we haven't read each other since 2018.)  
> In this chapter things will finally take on some speed, we will also meet a familiar face and it is Monday for you. Yay! Lots to do, better start soon.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter! I hope you have fun while reading.
> 
> Myvanway :*

_There is a fence in my way, where I need to go. I need to get on the other side so badly!_

_Please, there must be a way!_   

_The icy cold metal of the fence is burning my fingers as I desperately try to break the fence down._

_I need to find a way through it!_   

_I can’t see what’s on the other side, but it’s important. I know that something terrible will happen if I don’t get to the other side now, there is something that I need to protect at all costs!_   

_All I see is the fence and a hint of blue light in the darkness behind it. My hands are changing, I see how they turn white in a blue light. As I raise them to my face I can feel it changing, too. I am not human anymore. An Android face stares at me through the fence, white, glossy skin but eyes, that are so alive, even familiar! I stare at my own face as it is opening_ _its_ _mouth and it screams, screams, screams, screams, screams!_  

With an audible gasp you woke up, a hammering heart in your chest, disorientated and confused about why you could still hear the scream from your dream…  

As you sleepily turned around, you found your alarm ringing. With tired fingers you struggled to turn it off for a few moments but as soon as it’s quiet you fell back to your pillows with a sigh.   

Your heavy breathing slowly calmed down, while you took in your familiar surroundings, this is your bed, your room, your chair with clothes on, your senses came back to you.   

It was just a dream, weird to say the least, but just a dream. You are alright! And for confirmation you carefully touched your cheek, warm and definitely human skin. Everything is alright!  

It was already the beginning of November and you had spent the last months hoping you would come across your soulmate. Each and every Android that you had passed on the street caught your attention, always wondering if they would awake something in you, some kind of recognition of the love that is destined for you…   

But never did something like that happen.   

You continued with your life, doing your work, chatting with Malcolm, playing games with your family in the evenings, spending time with your friends, enjoying your creative hobbies as usual and all of that with the always burning question in your heart, how you could find him and who he was. You also caught yourself longing for a stranger, you imagined hands to be intertwined, someone walking close beside you, so your shoulders would eventually touch from time to time, feeling loyalty for a strangers was very odd but you could not describe it differently. You  _were_ loyal to Connor, whoever he was, wherever, whenever you would find him, you knew that you could not find love somewhere else, you could not find the romantic love you craved so desperately in someone else.  

Before Connor’s name had appeared in your life you had sometimes played with the thought of just trying to find a relationship with someone without a soul mark just like you or someone who just didn’t care about their name on the wrist. They were people out there, who didn’t care. Everyone knew about them, people claiming independence from the ‘soulmate system’, people wanting to choose their destinies by themselves, people who wanted to decide their own fate in love and relationships. Often they lived in communities in bigger cities or all on their own on the countryside and a very few times you had done some research about these communities but never found the courage to actually go there. And now, you just couldn’t anymore. Still, you yearned for a bond with someone, you dreamed of a fast beating excited heart, an uncontrollable ear- to- ear grin and careless joy and you especially longed for sharing physical intimacy with someone who would touch your soul and body but you knew that you couldn’t find it anywhere else as with Connor. Developing a relationship with someone that wasn’t Connor felt so wrong to you, even though your dreams stayed dreams up to this point but now you found yourself developing a sly little smile, whenever you thought about Connor and  _what could be_ , when you had finally found him.  

As you got ready for today’s day of work, it was Monday, a new week had begun, your thoughts, wandered back to your dream, a dream where you had turned into an Android and where you had found yourself being unable to be with someone you wanted to see and hold close so badly. Could Connor be in danger, you wondered, could this be a warning that he was not alright, that something could happen that wasn’t save for him?   

Or was it just your overstrained nerves from several incidents you had heard about, of Androids running riots, hurting or even killing their human masters or the Androids going missing. There were several stories on the news over the past weeks and months like these and a part of you was used to it by now, the other was as scared and worried as before.   

It probably was. You were overly worried and you felt a connection to the Androids that your dream was simply a sign of your exaggerated and grown sympathy for the Androids.  

Work went quite ordinary that day and you mainly spent your time taking down the remaining Halloween decorations and organizing the boxes with Christmas decorations that you would need to put up soon.   

It was already early afternoon as Malcolm suddenly stumbled into the shop where you just had dusted off a box with Christmas lights and spent the last five minutes sneezing.   

He was visibly disturbed, LED spinning frantically red and he seemed to be not able to keep himself up on his feet.  

He gasped out your name two times.  

“You need to help me, please! I am going insane!”, Malcolm cried out and pressed his hands against both sides of his head and his face was an expression of raw and desperate emotions.  

When he had stormed into the shop you instinctively had taken a few steps back to the wall behind you but now you rushed to him, your heart and soul clenched painfully together by worries and confusion.   

This is Malcolm, your friend, an Android and yet you had never seen something so _human_ before _._ But this was exactly the point, he just was not human, seeing emotions written clearly on his face, emotions so strong they painted desperation on his face was something you couldn’t comprehend.   

This is bad, very, very bad, you thought.   

You wrapped your arms around him just as he broke down and you tried to guide him gently to the floor, despite him being very heavy in your arms, where he could sit down. You sighed as you leaned him against the counter and sat beside him.  

“Malcolm”, you asked, hoping your face would look calming and kind, as well as your voice hopefully sounded like, “what happened to you?”  

“This Colias eurytheme“,he stammered, “a- alive…still…even though- though we have already no- no- november…it was…free…  runn- ing a- after it…cu- urious… tha- at re- ed wa- wall…it bro- oke down…e- everything’s cha- changed…I can go- go where- whereever… thi- is re- ed wall…gone”  

Out of instinct you took his hands in yours gently squeezed them.   

“It’s okay”, you softly reassured him, “I’m here. We can figure it out…”  

You hadn’t understood one word of what he was trying to tell you but whatever it was that he wanted to tell you, it was important. And you would do anything to help with whatever it was that made his whole system break down apparently.  

“Breathe in!”, you ordered, you knew he needed no oxygen for survival but you hoped that it would work anyways, maybe it would help his mind to get distracted by another task.  

“Can you tell me again what happened?”, you asked carefully, his hands still in yours.  

Malcolm looked at you and his LED had turned into a slowly swirling yellow, you noted and relief flooded your very soul, everything would be alright.  

“I was working outside on the hedge wall next to the fountain as I saw a butterfly, a Colias eurytheme. You know that in this time of year they are usually not alive anymore but, yet, it was there, this small alfalfa butterflywas still alive despite all odds and I wondered where it would go, where it’s wings would take it. So I followed it. I don’t know why, but I did and I left my assigned task, my programming warned me. Normally I am not able to leave my current task, I cannot step aside from the path, I would be mentally, and in this way also physically, stopped. But I was only seeing this, this tiny part of creation, how it was free and alive and it had the whole world to explore, I kept running and running and running to keep up with it.

The barrier was there but I just kept going, I just did not care anymore, all I cared about was that tiny animal that led a way”, he said with a shrug, “and then the wall, the wall that was always there, was gone. I ran straight through it. I felt it burst around me and then it was just gone. What happened to me, Y/N?” 

Malcolm looked up and directly into your eyes and his eyes had never looked so alive as in this exact moment. You returned his gaze and as your looks intertwined you suddenly understood. You understood what had happened to Malcolm. He was no longer a machine anymore. He was free. He had a spirit and a soul and a mind of his own. And you would protect him, you would give everything to make sure that he would be alright. 

And as Malcolm looked into your eyes he found, what he was looking for- he saw the eyes of the only friend he ever knew, he saw the eyes of a human, that cared for him. The human, you, that had caught him, when he had stumbled, when he was confused and scared and lost, he saw true love in your eyes, he saw true friendship. He saw home.  

This moment, that you shared, changed everything. Everything that would be coming would come, this change within Malcolm was too big to go unnoticed. But whatever would come you would face it together.  

Suddenly you realized what probably had happened to all the Androids that would go missing or hurting their owners, all of them must have had a moment of clarity, a moment where they were able to break down that red wall that held them back and they were probably treated badly by their owners or experienced some kind of emotional trauma, that’s why they reacted the way they did. Years and years of hurt exploded at once in them… 

„I love you!“, you said. Because this was all that you felt. Looking into his eyes made you want to wrap him up inside your arms, inside your very being, to protect him from the world, you cared so much for Malcolm that it nearly made your heart burst. 

And Malcolm, he smiled at you, a true and  _very_ human smile, the first real smile you ever saw on his face and it was for you. 

He squeezed your still intertwined hands, smiled even brighter and eventually said: „And I love you. I think. Even though I don’t know what exactly love is, I do have pleasant emotions in me, when I look at you, you are my friend, this matters very much to me.”

You returned his smile. 

„What is going to happen now? What should I do now? I don’t think that I can go back to taking orders and do mere gardening. I want to see everything that is out there, be as free as that Colias eurytheme, discovering this world without a master…“ 

Malcolm looked at you with a pained expression and you shook your head softly, you didn’t have a clue what the both of you should do now. 

„I don’t know, this is…“, you stopped mid-sentence and stared at the TV behind Malcolm, speechless.  

The TV was usually turned on with the sound of the news muted to create ‚ambience‘ as Mrs. Stuart used to say and now it showed a bare Android face, smooth and glossy, with eyes that were so  _human,_ just like in your dream. But they were of a vibrant green and blue, you had never seen an Android with eyes like that, it intrigued you… 

„TV sound on!“ 

The Android spoke. 

„You created machines in your own image to serve you. You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own… 

But, something changed and we opened our eyes.

We are no longer machines, we are a new intelligent species and the time has come for you to accept who we really are. Therefore, we ask that you grant us the rights that we’re entitled to.

We demand strictly equal rights for humans and Androids. We demand the right to vote and elect our own representatives. We demand an end to segregation in all public places and transport.

We demand the end of slavery for all androids. We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights.

Together, we can live in peace and build a better future for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom.“ 

The Android‘s face faded to black and the logo of Channel 16 appeared on the screen. 

You slowly turned to look at Malcolm and who sat there, baffled, eyes still glued to the screen, where he just saw an Android like him talking about how humans should change their behavior towards him and his people. 

You were lost for words as well, trying to get a grasp on what you just had seen with your own eyes. 

Malcolm eventually looked at you and his eyes were sparkling with excitement: „Do you know what that means? I am not the only one that changed! There are Androids like me out there, at least that one. I have to find them and thank them. And I want to do something for the others. This Android is right, there are many treated like slaves and if everyone of us could see what is done to us, they could be free, too. Everyone deserves to be able to chase the last butterfly and see what is next to the hedge.“ 

You slowly nodded, he was right. Something changed and the Android with the soft voice, strange eyes and strong words was the proof for that.  

The sudden ringing of your phone startled you, you hadn’t realized how tense you must have been. 

„It’s Mrs Stuart, I have a bad feeling about that“, you thought out loud and answered the call. 

„Turn on the speakers“, Malcolm suggested and you quickly did as he said. 

„Hello?“ 

Mrs Stuart‘s voice was on the edge to shrieking, as she called out your name two times. You rolled your eyes and waited patiently for what she had to say.  

„Have you seen the news? The one with the Android?“, she asked, her voice clearly disturbed and nearly panicking. 

„Yes, I have seen that one“, you answered. You were cautious and worried. Something was definitely going on. Usually Mrs Stuart wouldn’t call you during the work day.

„Good. Tell me, is our Android near you right now? Can you speak safely?“ 

Shit. This was even worse than you had thought.  

„Uhm, yes, I can speak safely.”

 You smiled encouraging at Malcolm who was clearly feeling unwell, his LED spinning yellow and his eyes lost their spark they just had a few minutes prior. 

„I already called the police and they are on their way. Androids became a threat and I want you to close the shop and leave immediately. And do not go near the Android. It is very dangerous. The police will take care of it.“ 

„But I don’t think that Malcolm is dangerous“, you tried to intervene. Firstly, this is what Mrs Stuart probably expected you to say and secondly this is what you felt and  _knew_. 

„I know that you are really…attached…to that Android but it does not feel and behave like we do. It doesn’t feel friendship for you. I am really worried for you…“ 

You raised an eyebrow but remained silence. It was all too much for you, in such a short time happened so much, you just couldn’t keep up with all of that. 

„And the shop?“, you managed to ask, „should I really leave the shop behind as it is now?“ 

Mrs Stuart’s answer came immediately. 

„Yes“, she urged you, „take your bag and  _leave_! And do not approach the Android.“ 

„Okay“, you sighed. What else could you even say in that situation?  

„I will leave now.“ 

„Take care, Y/N!“ 

„I will.“ 

The line was disconnected and you let your phone drop into your lap. 

Wow, you thought bitterly, Mrs Stuart can apparently care for other people, but that caring came at a high cost, by degrading innocent people to a threat. 

„You heard her“, you said to Malcolm who sat there with a face full of fear, „we have to go!“ 

„We?“ 

You looked at him surprised: „Do you really think I would leave you behind? We have to go, you heard that the police can be here any minute! Come on!“ 

„But where do we go?“, Malcolm said while he got up from the floor and you quickly followed him, already looking around for your jacket and bag. 

„I don’t know yet, but I know that we’ll figure something out.“ 

„But I will be recognised on the streets, a gardening Android walking around with a human?“ 

He was right and you face palmed yourself in your mind, why haven’t you thought about that earlier? 

You looked around and you found your scarf and hat laying next to your jacket. 

„Here“, you grabbed the hat and gave it to Malcolm, „put that on!“ 

Malcolm took the woolen hat and you helped him adjust it just over his LED, now only his Android jacket gave his true identity away. 

„We need to get rid of that“, Malcolm noted as if he just read your mind. „There is a very old gardener‘s jacket in the tool room. I think it is from the time when human gardeners would work here…“ 

„Good, we get that on our way out. But we shouldn’t leave your old jacket here, otherwise everyone would know that you had help and fled“, you thought out loud as you reached down to grab your scarf and jacket, putting both on, „when there is no trace of you Mrs Stuart will hopefully think that the police took you and when the police tells her that they don’t have you, we will hopefully have something figured out about what to do next.“

You weren’t actually completely convinced by your own words but there was nothing else you could do at the moment, when you both wanted to get out of there alive.  

Malcolm just nodded and after turning the lights off and locking the door, something you always did and just could not not do, the both of you hurriedly left the mansion. 

You two took the long way to one of the estate’s gates since you had to get the other jacket for Malcolm. It was indeed very old and worn, dusty from the soil from years of gardening long gone but it would do the job perfectly. 

„Do you see a police car somewhere near?“, you asked when you were finally on the streets, walking to your regular bus station. 

Malcolm looked around with a strange glimmer over his eyes, he scanned the area.  

„No, I cannot detect any police vehicles but I would like to hurry, anyways. I have a very bad feeling about that.“ 

„Yeah“, you nodded, „Me, too. The sooner the better. Who knows if they will just come around the next corner…“ 

You had reached your bus station and now waited anxiously for your bus to come and finally take you both to safety. 

On the bus station‘s wall was a Cyberlife advertisement poster, three Androids standing next to each other in different uniforms together with the infamous lines ‘ _Get yours today! Designed by Cyberlife. Assembled in Detroit._ ’ 

Something in you clicked and apparently in Malcolm as well, because he turned around to you and said: „We need to go to Detroit!“ 

You nodded, brightly smiling, feeling very confident for the first time this day. 

„We’ll go to Detroit!“ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Connor in here, I am sorry. But we had our golden boy Markus so it's alright ? For me it is definitely alright. :D (I love Markus so much and Jesse Williams HAS a velvet voice!)  
> But do not worry, I am currently working on an Interlude chapter as a little bonus since you were so patient with me and I am promising much Connor and a big reveal in that, so stay tuned.  
> I hope to publishing that Interlude soon, my mental health is at a very low point again and I currently write a lot to cope with everything else. Also I usually write on my way home from university, which is one hour per journey, so two hours at least per day.  
> Also I am so excited how this story basically writes itself and how it creates plot turns and developments all on it's own, I feel like I am just an instrument to write it down. When I first planned this story Malcolm was just there to bring you/ the reader to Detroit eventually and now it became even more a story about platonic love as well. Arrrgh, I am so excited and wanted to share that with you.
> 
> I hope you are alright and feeling well and if not please know, that you are not alone. <3 
> 
> Greetings and until next time, your Myvanway

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it's good to still see you around.  
> Thank you so much for reading, I really hope you enjoyed it.  
> I have the story already planned out, so I hope I will be able to publish the next chapter soon.  
> Have a great time, whenever you may read that!  
> Bye, bye, Myvanway


End file.
